OBITUARY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16348, 3 April 1915, Page 5

OBITUARY

BARON NATHAN ROTHSCHILD. ymi AieoolsUoo—Br T«l«gr*ph—Copyright LONDON, March 31. Ho death is reported of_Jsaron Nathan do RothsohilcL lie deceased recently < uffered from a serious illness, and an operation -was successfully performed, but ho suffered a oollapab and died. A NOTED FINANCIER. Baron Nathan Meyer do Rothschild was born November 8, 1840, in Pioadilly. He ■was the eldest, eon of Baron Lionel de Rothschild, of Naples. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and had as one of his fellow-students the King, with "whom he formed a friendship that lasted throughout life. Born into one of the greatest banking firms in the world, he was nevertheless not permitted to oonfino his energies originally to financial operations. IFTifl father, Baron Lionel, had oocupied a. conspicuous part in the struggle for the removal of the civil disabilities of tho Jews, in England, in the middle of the last century. Although elected member of Parliament in the Liberal- interest for tho City of London {together -with Lord John Russel and two other members) in the general election of July, 1847, and repeatedly reelected for the same division, ne was not allowed to take his seat in the House until 1858, when the Jews' Disabilities Bill was passed, which enaijled Jews to. take the oath of loyalty without uttering the words "on the true faith of a Christian." The right so hardly won by the father was soon enjoyed by the son. In 1865 Nathan Meyer de Rothschild was retained as Liberal member for Aylesbury, which he continuously represented till 1885, when he was raised to the peerage, as Baron Rothschild of Tring, Hertford. It is worthy of note that since 1865 the Aylesbqry division has always been represented by a member of tile Rothschild family. From 1885 it was served by the late Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild until his death in 1898, and the vacancy was immediately filled by the return of tho Hon. Lionel Walter de Rothschild, the eldest eon of the late Lord Rothschild, and successor iothe peerage.' In accordance with the almost invariable eastern of the Rothschild family, which has branches in the great capitals of Europe, Nathan Meyer married a cousin, Emma Louisa, daughter of Baron Carl von Rothschild, of Frankfort, in 1867. In the same year he eat as a member of the German Parliament, and thus - presented the phenomenon of serving simultaneously in the Parliaments of two different countries. In 1876 ho succeeded to the baronetcy of his uncle, Sir Antony de Rothschild, by special remainder, and in 1879 he became heir to the Austrian barcmy of his father. Although a staunch liberal during the 20 years that he represented Aylesbury, Sir Nathan Meyer de Rothschild, as he then ■was, joined the liberal-Unionist Party in 1885, the year in which he entered the House of Lords. He was the first Jew to be promoted to the peerage, and the event ■was regarded aa completing- the political emancipation of _ the Jews in Britain. In addition to .his parliamentary activity, he was LonT Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of the County of Buckingham, end also Lieutenant for the City of London, ■whilst he also serred for a time as Captain of the Royal Bucks .Yeomanry Cavalry. In 1901 he -was created Privy Councillor, and in the same year the Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order was conferred upon him. He was, moreover, a Governor of the Hack of England, and of many important corporation in. London. •. Lord Rothwiifld'g was a life of busy and generous activity. The financial concerns m which bd was engaged, and which were constantly > attended by high - political significance, did not trespass m the least upon his devotion to works of philanthropy. He was deservedly regarded as the lay head of the AngioJewish ccanzttuzuty, arm he held that position not so muc h :by reason of hia wealth as by the unselfish maamer in which he placed that wealth and hia great influence and personal counsel at the service of his Jewhh brethren. The complete story of the philanthropic laboure of the late peer will nerver be know, for they wet® Tamely guided By the traditional maxim of Lis faith, -which "charity *n secret" as the golden method.

• His interest in the Bast End of London wm considerably strengthened in the, year 1889> .when, he was oppointed a member of 3; PariwTTieiUittA'jr Commission to inquire into Oie congestion of the population in London. He owed his selection to the efforts j «ready made "to provide the inWustna.l classes -with oomm odious and healthv "_the object of the Four Per Cent. Industrial Dwellings Company (Ltd.), which h^ 3 , f ® uod J e i ll ? 1885- r rThe company, Of which Lord Rothschild was chainnajTof erected dwellings in Soitalfields, Whitechapel, CambeiTvefll and Stoke Newmgton, providing maximum accommodation _afc mmnratm rent, compatible with yielding a net 4 per cent, per annum dividend upon the investment of the paidup capital of the Company," These dwellings comprise accommodation for about 7000. people. As a resalt of the Parliamentary CommKsion of which he was a member, Lord _ Rothschild projected a scheme for improving the social and religions welJnLllSl *** Of London. This East End Scheme, as it was commonly called, comprised the erection of a large synagogue and the establishment of something of lie nature of a Toynbee Hall Settlement. Although Lord Rothschild offered £20,000 for the execution of the ■ plan, the strenuous opposition of Sir- Samuel Montagu caused its abandonment. An immediate development of the abortive scheme was the organism? of free services for the masses on the solemn festival® of New Year and the Day of Atonement. These Great Assembly Hall, Mile End l , in Beaumont Hall, and in tho Erae School, and they -were visited everv year by Lord Rothschild on theday of tho great "White Fast." Tie same deep etrain of humanitarianiem that- was to be found in his public activity was also mamfestin his lwsmess relations, ine competition that had continued for a century between his firm and that of the Banngs cuinnnated in the failure of the latter m 1893, t>ut tiie ■ Rothschilds ffenercame to the of tbe latter and averted what might haro proved a widespread financial catastrophe. Of the-more important negotiations undertaken by the firm under the presidency, of the chief Baa ? mentioned the loan of £1,000 000 made to the Egyptian Government in 1884 the'instance-; of Lord Rothschild that his, firm, acquired considerable interests in/ the 'Rio Tinto Copper Mines and the. De Beers Diamond Mines, whilst it also became the owner of largo interesis in the petroleum fields of Baku. position _occupied by Lord Kothschild in the Jewish community was o President o£ tho • Council of the United Synagogue, .an association comprising .16 of the principal synagogues in the metropolis. He was seldom/ present at the meetings of the council, though no .measure of anv important was either initiated or concluded; without his counsel having first been taken. He was also a viceof, Association, a body founded m iB7l to promote the edacation of Jewish children in Eastern «juntnes and to ensure the protection of Jews. He was also a warden of G / eat St. Jane's Aldgate,rWhich he attended on New "Year and the Fast of Atonement. A r J? ,?? th ? child the highest type ofEngliah Jew. Faithful to his ancestral Tehgion and devoted! to the cause of his oppressed race, he was animated by a high idealism m circumstances that would have tempted one of less noble , mould to bo entirely absorbed m the pursuits and nleapures of fashionable lifo. He worthily upheld the traditiong of his forefathers in being guided m finance by principles of true morality, and he has set a fine example of unselfish benelovence to those who come after him.

. Since the war. broke out Lord' Rothschild actedi as hon treasurer of the Times Fund for the Relief of the Sick and Woundeda fund that amounts to over £1,000,000.

LIEUTENANT BLACKMORJ3 mi , + , LONDON, April 1. lh© death is announced of Lieutenant Blackmore, instructor to the New Zealand Volunteers in 1871 It is stated that he assisted in breaking up the Kelly gang.